What frequency are your works radio operating on? As without that frequency, it would be hard to know if that radio will work where you want or not. Also depending upon frequency & thus the type of licence in use. You may need permission from who ever holds the licence to use the frequency & possibly also permission from who ever they lease/buy radios from, as they may have a contract that prohibits other radios from being used.

Thanks for the reply - that all makes sense.The radio's are Motorola DP4801's.I'll try to find out the frequency they use on channel 2. Is there any way you can get it from the radio itself in the menus that you know of?Some of these have pre programmed frequencies, but I could not find any info for this model on the web.The security boss is off for two weeks, so I can't ask them at this time.

You will need the software, the cable and perhaps an access code, depending on how they were programmed. Lots of people programme with the defaults left intact, but others who are more security aware will change them, so even reading a radio doesn't give you the information you require. Also keep in mind that the head of security is unlikely to have been the person who programmed them, and if that entity is a supplier, they may refuse to supply the information for 'security' - when they really mean keeping the contract.

Sid wrote: I'll try to find out the frequency they use on channel 2. Is there any way you can get it from the radio itself in the menus that you know of?

When I was driving HGV's for an agency & thus in & out of places I wanted to listen to, the way I did it was to simply use my scanners on the most likely bands & if I had a radio in my hand then life became so much easier as there is was no need to sit around & wait for someone else to transmit. With a radio in your hand, take the antenna off so you attenuate the signal & don't don't over load your scanner or advertise to everyone on the system what you are doing & then give a very quick press on the PTT with your scanner doing a band scan. If you have guessed the right band, job done, if you have not, then move onto option 2. PMR offers limited options, so it is not really difficult to find a transmitting radio with scanners old or new. Especially if you are close by & can see if it's VHF or UHF. More than a very quick use of the PTT risks damaging the radio. But a couple of very quick presses normally gives up the desired frequency. In todays world with close call, there is no need for the above, or a handheld frequency counter like I purchased to achieve the above results even quicker. All you need to do with close call is remove the antenna so you do not over load your scanner, which will probably give you a false reading on the frequency & then press the PTT.. The Job done.

That's a yes, normally. The tricky thing with digital radio is that it can confuse devices designed for analogue. Depending on the mode the radio works in - it can be producing a non-continuous output - pulsing many times a second, that's the horrible buzz saw type noise you get when scanning nowadays. If you try to use a frequency counter, it either fails to lock up, or produces a reading that is totally wrong. My frequency counters here fail to work on my DMR equipment - the displays produce random rubbish - either over or under the real frequency. VSWR meters do the same thing.

The best cheap solution is a simple SDR dongle - and they're quite cheap, just a few pounds on Ebay or similar, and a free bit of software and away you go - you can see the output of the radio. Not totally foolproof as sometimes the indicated frequency is a bit wrong - but you can easily check that by looking at a known frequency source - I use the coastguard on 156.8, or my local harbour on 156.7. If the display says 156.710, I can adjust it to 156.7, and then it's accurate - till next time. One of my dongles is always exactly the same, the other drifts a bit. This will give you the transmit frequency, but of course not the receive frequency, and the WTR and others tend to list the frequency you need to listen on. In your case it's probably simplex, but there could be a repeater, or not......